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Polly Richmond (1794-1873)
}} Ancestry Regarding the ancestry of Mary 'Polly' Richmond: I have not yet found anything definite on Mary 'Polly' Richmond's ancestry. But I have found what appears to be a high probability indication of the family from which she was born. According to the Red Bird Cemetery sitehttp://www.rootsweb.com/~nychauta/CEMETERY/Ellery/Redbird-P.htm she was born Nov 9, 1799 Madison, Madison Co, NY. Also given is data that would place her birth about Nov 30 1794, which may be more likely correct. A second Red Bird Cemetery site http://www.paintedhills.org/CHAUTAUQUA/redbirdcem.htm says"PICKARD, Polly spouse of Adam ... died Feb. 6, 1873 age 78y 2m 7d " This would make her birth about 30 Nov 1794. The data on this list is taken either from the actual tombstones, or from old record books, for some other entries on the list say "dates unreadable". The note at the top of the list says: "From records found at Westfield patterson Library/ 1946 reading, no researchers name given. Includes a lot of handwritten notes on family lines." Nathaniel Richmond was born 14 Oct 1733 Taunton, Bristol, MA, and died 1813 at Camillus, Onondaga Co, NY. Onondaga Co borders on Madison Co to the west. Nathaniel married a Mary Richmond, his cousin—both descended from John Richmond b. 1629 Taunton, Bristol MA and Abigail Rogers b. 1641 Duxbury, Plymouth, MA. Nathaniel's parents are believed to be Nathaniel Richmond and Alice Hackett, both born in Taunton, Bristol Co, MA, and married there 2 Nov 1732. (The elder Nathaniel is a known descendant of Mayflower passenger Thomas Rogers.) This parental link between the two Nathaniels has evidently come into dispute in recent years. The son of Nathaniel and Mary Richmond, Abeizer Richmond, was born 11 Jun 1764 in Taunton, Bristol Co, MA, but settled and died (1837) in Madison, Madison Co, NY, which is the village where Polly "Mary" Richmond is said to have been born 30 Nov 1794 or 9 Nov 1799. Abeizer Richmond and Lydia Eaton both migrated from different areas of Massachusetts to Herkimer Co, NY, and married at Fairfield, where it is believed that Lydia lived. Fairfield was very near (within 10 miles) to the German Flatts/Little Falls area where Adam Pickard was born and where his family lived. The town of Herkimer, where Abiezer is believed to have lived, is about 11 miles from Little Falls. They moved to Madison, Madison Co, NY about or soon after 1795, where they remained. The earlier children of Abeizer and Lydia, including Philena, Amarilla, Hannah, Merrick were born in Herkimer Co, while their later children were born at Madison, Madison Co. Their daughter Lydia was born 14 Mar 1798 Madison, Madison Co, NY, and their daughter Kezia was born 19 Jan 1800 Madison, Madison Co, NY. Madison is a small village, 2003 estimated population: 312. In 1875, its population was 2,434. Abiezer's half-brother, David, by Nathaniel's second wife, evidently went with him (The History of Chenango and Madison Counties, New York by James H. Smith). David married Mary Simmons of Madison, whose family was already at Madison before Abiezer and David arrived. David and Mary married 13 Dec 1804, and their first child was born 4 Nov 1805. A daughter of Nathaniel and second wife Sarah Damon, Nancy, married (_______) Burnell of Madison. Joshua Baily Richmond's History says that Gideon b. 1765 Taunton, Bristol, MA, and his wife Rebecca (Hannah) Whitney of Goshen, moved for a time to Madison, NY, and thence to Pomfret, Chautauqua Co, NY, and thence to Ohio in 1819. They had a daughter, Rebecca Cynthia Richmond, born in Madison, Madison Co, NY 22 Jun 1802 (per RichmondAncestry.org; another source places her birth at Pomfret, Chautauqua Co.) So, Abiezer Richmond with his family and his brother David settle at Madison in about 1795 or shortly thereafter. And Abiezer's brother Gideon Richmond and wife Rebecca (Hannah) Whitney have a daughter Rebecca Cynthia Richmond b. 22 Jun 1802 possibly at Madison, Madison Co, NY. And Polly "Mary" Richmond who married Adam I. Pickard is said to have been born either 30 Nov 1794 or 9 Nov 1799 Madison, Madison Co, NY. Was she perhaps a daughter of Gideon and Rebecca? She could have met and married Adam Pickard in Madison County before her parents moved to Ohio in 1819. Was she a daughter of Abiezer, who settled in Madison, Madison Co, NY? There appear to be conflicts with her birth date and the birth dates of Abiezer's listed children. Could there be an error? The Whitney Research Group says that "Hannah married Gideon Richmond of Fort Dayton, NY, now the town of Herkimer, Herkimer Co, and evidently went there to live." If this is correct, Gideon Richmond was already living at Herkimer before 1790, when he married Hannah in Eastern Massachusetts, after which they lived at Herkimer. The family of Johannes Pickard, including Adam Pickard, was located in Big Flatts, Herkimer Co, before they moved to Madison County and eventually to Chautauqua Co about 1816. A genealogy wiki entry on Adam's father, John Pickard, says that the family moved to Cazenovia, NY in 1796. Cazenovia is in Madison County, less than 20 miles from the village of Madison. This was about this same time that the Abiezer Richmond family moved to Madison. Were there family, church, business, or some other relationships developed at Herkimer County between the Pickard and Richmond families that were continued once they both moved to Madison County? Relationships that later brought Adam and Mary together? These are all questions built around the premise that Ellery historian Loraine C. Smith had a basis to associate Mary 'Polly' Richmond with the Richmonds of Madison, Madison Co., and that this is the family out of which she was born. Adam and Mary (Richmond) Pickard's first (known) child was born about 1816; and so one might assume their marriage to have taken place at Madison County prior to their move to Chautauqua County about 1816. According to Joshua Baily Richmond's History, Nathaniel6 Richmond (Nathaniel5, Nathaniel4, Edward3, John2, John1) emigrated to Herkimer Co, NY about 1787/88. In 1813 he lived at Camillus, where his father died at his home. He moved to Wilmington Ind. in 1817. Yet his two daughters Mary b. 27 Nov 1790 and Lydia b. 22 Jan 1794 are listed as born in Washington Co, NY., and then 6 children are listed as being born in Herkimer Co, in the years 1795-1805. Polly is not listed among them. The family of Adam5 Richmond (Stephen4, John3, Edward2, John1) was in the Fairfield, Herkimer, NY area from perhaps 1793 until they moved further west to Leroy, Genessee Co, NY about 1812. I don't find among his sons William, Preserved, Stephen, Simeon, George, any with a daughter named Polly that matches our Polly (Richmond) Pickard. Preserved and Mary (Olin) Richmond had a daughter Polly b. 26 Dec 1796 who married Millins Farley. ---- If Nathaniel Richmond b. 1733 is the family out of which Mary 'Polly' Richmond was born, and if he is the son of Nathaniel Richmond b. 1702 at Taunton, MA, then the ancestry is traceable back through Mayflower pilgrim Thomas Rogers (establishing Mary Richmond's offspring as Mayflower descendants) and beyond. It should be noted that it has been disputed in recent years whether or not Nathaniel Richmond b. 1702 Taunton, MA and his wife Alice Hackett left any verifiable offspring. It appears that the Mayflower Society and the Thomas Rogers Society no longer accept their descendants for membership because there is no documentation of their offspring. That is unfortunate, because there have been many people over time who for many reasons did not have their births officially documented. Record-keeping was not always as fastidious as it is today. Perhaps one day these (now orphaned) descendants can be either proven or disproven through DNA analysis. Even without the Nathaniel --> Nathaniel lineage, the offspring of Nathaniel b. 1733 and Mary Richmond have a clear Mayflower lineage which is not disputed, through Mary. ---- After an examination of as much relevant information as I can find online, as described in the notes above, I think that the weight of probability weighs in favor of Mary Richmond having likely been born out of the descendants of Nathaniel Richmond b. 1733 Taunton, MA., who is likely the true son of Nathaniel Richmond b. 1702 Taunton, MA. The probability is not absolute, but is compellingly strong, and is sufficient to include this line in the family tree, with reservation -- and subject to removal if additional information shifts the weight towards improbable. I've yet to find a suggestion of who were her actual parents, and have no answer for why she is not listed among the descendants of Nathaniel b. 1733. But the close proximity of the Richmonds with the Pickards in Herkimer County; along with the fact that both the Richmond and Pickard families moved into Madison County at nearly the same time (within less than two years); along with the fact that I can find no other Richmonds in Madison, Madison County, except the descendants of Nathaniel b.1733; and the placing of Mary at Madison by Ellery Historian Loraine C. Smith -- all of which facts taken together oughtweigh the apparent difficulties, of course subject to change as further information becomes known. Add to that the fact that it would not be right to indiscriminately leave out a Mayflower line that has that much weight of probability in its favor. All of the foregoing data is of varying degrees of certainty, and is given here in the hope of obtaining further clarification where it may be incorrect. *1860 United States Federal Census in Ellery, New York *1870 United States Federal Census in Ellery, New York *Red Bird Cemetary Records